Where did Fiona Cottrell get all that money?

[Kingdomofsleep]

I've been a bit fascinated by this latest news about Farage and all the money.

The latest detail is that Fiona Cottrell, the mother of Posh George the crypto fraudster guy, gave Reform donations of £1m and £500k over the past few years.

However! She is a retired stylist who lives in a cottage worth between 500k and 1m, and inherited just £1.5m from her husband when he died. So, comfortably off, but not with millions to spare.

I mean, my house is worth around that (mortgaged), and my dh would raise eyebrows if I donated so much as £500 to a political party. Let alone £1.5m!

She seemingly hasn't earnt it or inherited it. So it seems like someone has given it to her to give to Reform. That someone didn't want to give it to Reform in his own name. If this is true, it's fraud apparently. Who is it? This could be so big.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/police-investigate-reform-donations-by-mother-of-fraudster-who-bankrolled-farage-3kd826j7h

Another article in the observer today, can’t keep up with this stuff!

Reform given six-figure donation by firm that received £67m loans from unnamed sources

archive.today/NyDFY

The Mail had an article too but with nothing new. Just keeping it in the news!

Is the observer article old news as well? Honestly, I don’t know at this point. There’s so much coming out about him I’ve switched off a bit besides the £5m and the George Cottrell fiasco.

I think the observer bits are new

i het the impression the Mail are piggy backing off the other papers but I do think it’s interesting that they are turning on him. Still letting him write articles mind

Well indeed. The Daily Mail making a choice to keep Farage's five million (and more) in the headlines constitutes a news story in itself.

Fiona Cottrell will be the one prosecuted. You can be sure that the men won't be.

: “Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, are strictly followed, as has been the case with all donations.”

They must think we were all born yesterday.

Well, their base have already proved they will believe anything so they’ve got nothing to lose by trying to convince others at this point. It won’t work, but I suppose they’ve got no choice. They’re not going to publicly admit to being corrupt.

They clearly hold their followers in contempt by telling such lies and expecting to be believed. They’re laughing at the very people they want to vote for them. Sad state of affairs when you think about it.

He’s put an announcement out on social media hinting that he may merge with Lowe to defeat the left. I’m wondering if he will dissolve Reform in the hope that this dodgy money can no longer be investigated.

I mean, they may well dislike each other, but Farage is getting quite desperate now. He’s knows he’s in deep shit and will try anything to get out of it. Thoughts?

I think Lowes offer of a truce was a trap for Farage because the "common ground" he suggests they agree on is basically all of Lowes policies and also policies that Farage has had to flip flop/equivocate on so as to appeal to the more extreme parts of his voters without alienating the mainstream. Either Farage accepts the "common ground" and all Lowe stands for (and potentially allows Restore to hollow out Reform the way Reform hollowed out the conservatives). Or he turns down Lowe and looks like he doesn't want to be the bigger man, also signals that he is less properly right wing than Lowe. I guess he's chosen to go for the first option. He's quite weak politically and Lowe knows it and is capitalising. Hahahah

Wow that's pretty big news, things are moving fast

Richard Tice appears to have used more than half a million pounds he received from the mother of Nigel Farage’s long-term aide George Cottrell to convert loans he had made to Reform UK into donations. ft.trib.al/YwfH2uZ
https://bsky.app/profile/financialtimes.com/post/3msei2f56au24

Just the number of entities involved is a massive red flag before you even get into further details